Paula Guran [editor] and Prime Books here release another solid anthology in their annual collection of the best dark short fiction. One novella rounds out the short stories covering the horror to thriller to dark fantasy spectrum.

My favorite’s, all earning 5 out of 5 stars, were:–Angela Slatter’s novella, Ripper, an imaginative supernatural retelling of the unsolved Jack the Ripper tale that brings to light gender inequities and how that may have compromised the investigation.–Dale Bailey’s short horror tale, “Snow”. A small party of friends survives the opening days of an apocalyptic pandemic only to find themselves ill-prepared to face their inner fears and loss of humanity. –Priya Sharma’s disturbing modern creature fantasy, “Fabulous Beasts”, which shows a family of transmorphic snake people and their unsettling history of incest, rape, abuse, and survival.